A little question in ladies' rights

\DIES' RICH

THE LIBRARY

OF

THE UNIVERSITY
OF CALIFORNIA

LOS ANGELES

GIFT OB

David Freedman

A LITTLE QUESTION
IN LADIES' RIGHTS

BY THE SAME AUTHOR
THE HICKORY LIMB

Illustrated. Cloth. 60 cents net

"The joyful pathos is so true that it
chokes you all up but leaves you happy,
and one likes to be left happy."

"An hour of amusement, a series of
laughs from the heart out and a pleas-
ant vista backward to the days of
childhood will come to the reader of
'The Hickory Limb.' "

Cincinnati Tribune.

JOHN LANE COMPANY
NEW YORK

"What's the matter, Margery?"
"Nothing. I'm just waiting."

(See page 13)

A LITTLE QUESTION
IN LADIES' RIGHTS

By
PARKER H. FILLMORE

AUTHOR OF "THE HICKORY LIMB,"
"THE ROSIE WORLD," ETC.

Illustrations by

ROSE CECIL O'NEILL

NEW YORK

JOHN LANE COMPANY

MCMXVI

Copyright, 1911,
By John Lane Company

Copyright, 1916,
By John Lane Company

Press of

J. J. Little & Ives Company
New York. U. S. A.

NOTE: THE FIRST PART OF THIS STORY IS
REPRINTED FROM "THE YOUNG IDEA," NOW
OUT OF PRINT; THE SECOND PART HAS
NEVER UNTIL NOW APPEARED IN BOOK FORM.

P:

852176

ILLUSTRATIONS

"What's the matter, Margery?" "Noth-
ing. I'm just waiting." . Frontispiece

PAGE

"I'm only the hired girl!" .... 19

"Margery, do you see him? The bees are

after him!" 30

A LITTLE QUESTION IN
LADIES' RIGHTS

PART ONE

MARGERY was sitting under the
cherry tree with a certain air of
expectancy. She seemed to be
waiting for something or some one. Wil-
lie Jones's head popped over the back fence
and Willie Jones himself, a tin pail in one
hand, dropped into the Blair yard and
made for the cherry tree. But Margery
still gazed earnestly, tensely, into nothing.
Willie Jones, evidently, was not the object
of her thoughts.

"What's the matter, Margery?"

"Nothing. I'm just waiting."

"What for?"

There was no reason for telling Willie
Jones, but, by the same token, there was
no reason for not telling him. So Mar-
gery answered frankly:

"I et a whole bagful of bananas and
[13]

A LITTLE QUESTION

now Effie says I'm going to be sick and
thr'up. So I'm just waiting."

"Whew! How many was they, Mar-
gery?"

"I don't know, but a good many."

"Think you might have shared with a
fella."

"Well, you see, Willie, I didn't know
anything about them. None of us did.
I thought I smelled something good in
the pantry, and when Effie went upstairs
I sneaked in to see. Sure enough, there
was a bag of bananas, real soft and
sweet, don't you know. I et one and then
I et another and, before I knew it, they
were all gone. Then Effie caught me as
I was coming out."

"Will she tell on you?"

"No, I don't think she'll tell on me.
But she says I'm going to be awful sick.
I was once before. So I'm just waiting."

"Aw, you're not going to be sick, Mar-
gery. That's only Effie's bluff. Listen:
[14]

IN LADIES' RIGHTS

I'm going out blackberrying. There are
just dead loads of great big ripe ones on
the graveyard patch. My mother'll give
me ten cents if I bring her back two
quarts."

Margery looked at the tin pail long-
ingly. She, too, would go blackberrying,
but she realized that home was the best
place for sick folk.

"Aw, come on," Willie urged. "You're
not going to be sick. I bet anything
you're not."

Confidence begets confidence, and, look-
ing at Willie Jones's tin pail, Margery
began to wonder whether, after all, Effie's
prophecy might not prove a false one.

"I tell you what, Willie : Wait a min-
ute and I'll ask Effie."

"Why do you got to ask her?"

"Because mother's not home. Besides,
if I do get sick, I'll want Effie to take care
of me."

This last was too sound a reason for
[15]

A LITTLE QUESTION

Willie to gainsay, so Margery called Effie
to the kitchen door.

"Blackberryin'I And in the sun!" Ef-
fie repeated, when Margery had delivered
herself. "Well, I guess not! Here you
are just stuffed full of ripe bananas and
you want a-go out trampin' in the sun!
Not much! You stay right where you
are, me lady, and take care o' yourself."

"You see," Margery explained to Wil-
lie Jones.

"Aw, rats!" that young gentleman ex-
claimed, turning a hostile front toward
the kitchen door. "Come on, Margery.
What do you care what Effie says ? She's
nuthin' but an old hired girl ! I wouldn't
let any old hired girl boss me around!"

"Any old — what?" gasped Effie, her
face turning red and her eyes opening
wide with horror.

"Any old hired girl!" Willie Jones re-
peated defiantly. "Ain't she nuthin' but
an old hired girl, Margery?"
[16]

IN LADIES' RIGHTS

It was a question Margery had never
before considered. To her Effie had al-
ways been merely Effie — merely the per-
son who cooked and sewed and swept and
waited on table and combed your hair and
buttoned your dress and did all the thou-
sand and one things about the house that
had to be done and always were done. She.
was merely Effie and, come to think of it,
she must be the hired girl, for in every
house in the neighborhood the person who
did the things or a few of the things that
Effie did was undoubtedly the hired girl.
And if you are a thing, what's the sense
pretending you aren't? Margery did not
wish to offend Effie, but facts is facts.

"Of course Effie's our hired girl."

For a moment Effie looked hurt enough
for tears.

"Oh, Margery, how can you? And

after all the years I've took care of you

and loved you! You don't mean it, do

you? You're not going to call your poor

[17]

A LITTLE QUESTION

old Effie such an ugly name, are you?"
"Well, I don't see why you talk that
way, Effie. You are a hired girl, aren't
you?"

"Of course she's a hired girl," Willie
Jones insisted. "And I'd just like to see
any old hired girl of ours telling me what
I dast do and what I dassent. Come on,
Margery, we can't wait all day."

"Any old hired girl!" shouted Effie.
She was angry now, so angry that Mar-
gery and Willie Jones retreated a few
steps in case of personal violence. "So
I'm like any old hired girl, am I? I'm
only one of them good-for-nuthin' tramps
that go traipsin' about from house to house
and never keep a place for more than two
weeks, am I? I'm a dirty, careless, ig-
nur'nt hussy that's out all night and
sleepy and lazy all day, am I? In
other words, I'm a hired girl! Well,
it's just what Tom's been tellin' me
all along, and I didn't believe him.
[18]

'I'm only the hired girl!"

IN LADIES' RIGHTS

'Nonsense,' says he, 'they don't care
nuthin' for you. To them yir only a
hired girl,' says he. 'Now come over to
my place and I'll make you the house-
keeper,' says he, 'and all you'll have to
do is give your orders to the servants.'
And every time I says to Tom, 'No, Tom,'
I says, 'I'm not ready yet. I've been with
these children since before they was born
and I can't leave 'em yet. But thank you
just the same,' I says. And Tom says,
'Effie, yir a born fool! What do you think
them children care for you?' he says.
'Only what they can get out of you,' he
says. And," concluded Erne, her voice
again choked with tears, "I am a fool and
Tom's right. They don't care nuthin' for
me and I'm only the hired girl !"

"Who's Tom, I'd like to know?" WiUie
Jones demanded offensively.

"Who's Tom?" echoed Effie. It was
plain that insult was being added to in-
jury. "Why, Tom, me young friend,
[21]

A LITTLE QUESTION

is Thomas McGinniss, Conthractor and
Builder, that built the house yir living in
and every house on your street. And it's
ten to one, me young gent, that yir own
dad is still payin' his monthly installments
to Tom McGinniss, brother of Effie the
Hired Girl."

Effie turned haughtily away, theta
paused to add: "If either of yez ever
again have anything to say to Effie, when
ye ring Mr. Thomas McGinniss's door-
bell, ye had better mind yir manners and
ask for Miss McGinniss."

Effie slammed the kitchen door and
Willie Jones showed how deeply im-
pressed he was by putting his thumb on
the end of his nose and wiggling his fin-
gers in a manner that Margery had often
been told was highly improper.

"Well, come on," he said briskly. "It's
time for us to be moving or we never will
get two quarts picked."

So off they started, a good half hour's
[22]

IN LADIES' RIGHTS

tramp in the sun. The blackberry patch
was in a far unused corner of the grave-
yard, adjoining a plot of unconsecrated
ground where, as Willie and Margery
had often heard, only murderers were
buried. There was, of course, the usual
No Trespassing sign to meet and pass,
the wire fence to slip under, and a short
stretch of clay and rubble which ended
suddenly in a thick brake of blackberry
bushes. Once in the patch all that was
necessary was to keep a sharp eye on the
gravedigger's house, which stood on a
knoll beyond, in plain sight, but far
enough away to give one a good chance
of escape in case of detection.

"Now, I'll let you hold the pail, Mar-
gery, and I'll pick into my hat. Jimmy!
They haven't been picked over to-day at
all. We'll get our two quarts easy."

"H'm," murmured Margery, tenta-
tively. There was a little matter upon
which she had been speculating ever since
[23]

A LITTLE QUESTION

they had left home. "Are — are you going
to give me half the money?"

"What money?"

"Why, don't you know, the money your
mother's going to pay you for these ber-
ries."

"Oh."

The Oh was all Willie had to answer.

"Well, are you?"

"Are I what?"

"Are you going to give me half the
money?"

"Well, I— I hadn't thought about it,"
Willie admitted.

Margery felt perfectly sure of this and
sure likewise that he never would think
of it unless she herself insisted on Ler
rights.

"Then just think about it now. Here
I am picking berries for you as fast as I
can. I haven't et one. Now if you go
sell these berries, you ought to give me
half, oughtn't you?"

[24]

IN LADIES' RIGHTS

"I dunno but what I ought."

A timid creature would have rested
content with this, but Margery had had
too many dealings with the other sex to
put undue confidence in any concession
so vaguely expressed, so grudgingly ad-
mitted. It was rather a hard thing to do
— she knew beforehand Willie Jones
would hate her for it — but a nickel is a
nickel, and now or never, she realized, was
the moment to demand a definite promise.

"Well, then, will you?"

Willie seemed not to hear.

"Will you?" Margery repeated, stop-
ping her picking to make her question
more emphatic.

Willie looked up apprehensively toward
the gravedigger's house.

"If you don't stop arguing and go
ahead picking we won't either of us have
anything," he burst out querulously.

It was hard indeed not to act upon a
suggestion so plainly expected to be of
[25]

A LITTLE QUESTION

benefit to them both. Fortunately, Mar-
gery knew that if she had but character to
persist a little longer she would probably
gain her end. So, by a great effort of
will, she continued idle and reiterated tire-
somely :

"Well, will you?''

"Will I? Why, of course I will!"
Willie raised his voice and screwed up his
face into a tight little knot of impatience
and disgust. "Haven't I been telling you
that for half an hour? You are the dumb-
est ox sometimes! Why, do you suppose
I'd ask you to help me if I hadn't ex-
pected to share with you ? You must think
I'm an awful tightwad!"

Margery bent her head humbly under
this tirade. She had nothing more to say,
no defense to utter. By her unwomanly
persistence she had very clearly lost what-
ever admiration and respect Willie Jones
might once have felt for her. But — but
— but she was in for half the profits 1 . . .
[26]

IN LADIES' RIGHTS

Women are so prone nowadays to prefer
some petty material gain to the grand old-
fashioned whatchemaycallit.

"I think we're going to get our two
full quarts," Margery remarked amiably.
Of course she was amiable. She had every
reason to be amiable.

JVillie Jones, who by this time had fal-
len silent, made no comment.

"Don't you think so?" Margery pur-
sued sweetly.

"Huh!" grunted Willie Jones.

When the tin pail was about full an
accident happened to Margery. She
stepped into something soft and clayey,
and the next instant, seeing what it was,
she started off by leaps and bounds, cry-
ing out the shrill warning: "Run, Willie,
run I Bumble bees ! I stepped on a bum-
ble bee nest!"

A young gravedigger — if it be correct
to call the offspring of an old gravedigger
a young gravedigger — caught sight of the
[27]

A LITTLE QUESTION

poachers just at this moment, and, shout-
ing out, "Hey, there! You!" started to-
ward them down the knoll. The incred-
ible speed with which the poachers fled
seemed to give the young gravedigger an
erroneous idea of the fear that his pres-
ence inspired. There was small likeli-'
hood of his overtaking them before they
reached the safety of the other side of the
fence, but they seemed to him so little to
realize this that, for the mere pleasure of
pursuit, the young gravedigger pounded
on, brandishing his arms and roaring his
threats. By the time Margery and Willie
made the fence they had so far outdis-
tanced the bees that Willie had courage
to face about and shout back defiance to
all threats and to show his contempt for
the whole race of gravediggers by point-
ing his thumb to his nose and wriggling
his fingers in that same derisive and, it
must be conceded, effective manner al-
ready mentioned. Although still at a con-
[28]

IN LADIES' RIGHTS

siderable distance, the young gravedigger
caught the full meaning of the insult and
almost exploded with rage.

"You— you little " he began. But

he did not finish. They saw him stop sud-
denly, look up, and then, flinging his arms
over his head, rush madly back the way
he had just come.

"Oh! Oh! Oh I" Willie Jones shouted,
hopping up and down in the intensity of
his enjoyment. "Margery, do you see
him? The bees are after him! Jimmy!
Jiminy! Jimmy!"

Willie Jones lay down on the ground
and rolled and kicked and plucked up
handfuls of grass in an effort to work off
the exuberance of his joy.

"Oh!" he gasped weakly, as the humor
of the situation finally expended itself.
"Isn't that the funniest thing you ever
saw?"

As Margery made no answer, he turned,
suddenly conscious that from the start
[29]

9* M'! . y-

y-i^^

s:

v\ >

"Margery, do you see him?
The bees are after him !"

A LITTLE QUESTION

she had not been sharing his transports.

"Why, what's the matter, Margery?"

There was a pained expression on Mar-
gery's face and she was panting.

"I'm stung," she murmured.

Willie Jones did not have to ask
"Where?" for the middle finger of one
hand was already standing straight out,
swollen and red.

"I'm awfully sorry, Margery, honest I
am. Put some mud on it. That'll help

some."

"I don't see any mud," Margery panted,
looking hopelessly over the green meadow.

"Can't we make some quick enough?"
Willie asked, digging his heel into the
turf. "Now, Margery, spit on this. . . .
Aw, that's not enough. Watch me."

By their united efforts they succeeded
in mixing a mud plaster large enough to
cover the wound.

"There now, does that feel better?"

"I don't know, Willie. Maybe it does.
[32]

IN LADIES' RIGHTS

But do you know — do you know — I — I
think I'm getting sick."

"Oh, no, you're not. You just think
you are. Brace up now and you'll feel
all right." Then, by way of changing the
subject and giving praise where praise
was due, he added: "That was dandy of
you not dropping any berries when the
bees chased us. There are not quite two
quarts, but don't you care. I think my
mother'll count them for two."

But Margery was not to be diverted.

"Oh, Willie," she groaned, "I feel aw-
ful sick! Oh, if I could only thr'upl"

"Well, thr'up if you want to," Willie
advised. "There's no one around here,
and I won't look, honest I won't."

Margery shook her head sadly.

"I can't do it alone. I got to have hot
water and things. Come on. We better
go home or I think I'll die. Oh, if my
head just didn't ache so! Maybe you bet-
ter lend me your cap, Willie. Thanks. I
[38]

A LITTLE QUESTION

suppose that'll help my head some, but
I don't believe it will. Oh, Willie, do you
know what I wish?"

"What?"

"Oh, I do wish I had never et a single
banana! And I knew all the time I
oughtn't to eat so many, I knew it just
as well! Oh, Willie, isn't it tumble the
way a person does a thing even when they
know they oughtn't to?"

All the way home Willie had very little
to say, but he listened politely as Margery
talked on and on, punctuating her sad
moralizings with long labored breaths and
weary headshakes.

"And then afterwards, Willie, if I had
only sat still as Effie told me to, I might
have got off all right. But no, I had to
come racing off here in the hot sun and I
knew I oughtn't to, and then I went into
the blackberry patch and I knew I hadn't
any right to, and all I got to say is, it's
a wonder a hundred bees didn't sting me
[34]

IN LADIES' RIGHTS

instead of one. ..."

Willie looked at her curiously.

"Do you think you got stung because
you picked those berries?"

"I just know that was why."

"Well, the gravedigger was getting it
worse than you, and I guess he had a
right to be there, hadn't he?"

For a moment Margery was stumped,
but only for a moment.

"Yes, Willie," she said simply, "he had
a right to chase us, but — he had no right
to use such tumble langwedge. I'm not
one bit surprised he got stung for it. You
heard him yourself, Willie, you know you
did."

Yes, Willie had heard him, and Mar-
gery was certainly right in intimating that
the young gravedigger was exceptionally
fluent in cuss words. With cause and
effect so clearly demonstrated, Willie
Jones had no further argument against
Margery's conception of a prompt and
[35]

A LITTLE QUESTION

well-deserved judgment. He was silent
a moment, then went back to something
else.

"So you think you oughtn't to have
gone into the blackberry patch at all?"

"Why, of course I think so! I know
so ! Wasn't there a sign up not to ? Why,
taking blackberries when there's a sign
up is not much better than downright
stealing 1"

"H'm," murmured Willie Jones with
interest. Then after a pause he said:
"Now, Margery, listen here: if you feel
as bad about it as all that I tell you what
I'll do — I'll take your share of blame for
the berries. I'll tell everybody that I
picked 'em all."

Margery turned heavy eyes on her com-
panion and, sick as she was, saw through
his little scheme at once. He was offer-
ing her a chance to give up her share of
tainted profits.

"Thank you, Willie, thank you very
[36]

IN LADIES' RIGHTS

much, but I guess I'll just tell the truth
about the berries. It wouldn't be fair to
you if I didn't."

Willie protested that it would be all
right, but Margery was firm.

"No, WiUie, I did pick half of them,
that's all there is about it, and you mustn't
pretend I didn't. . . . Oh, oh, I wonder
do I look as sick as I feel?"

Willie scanned her colorless face and,
under the delusion that sick folk desire to
look as nearly well as possible, said : "No,
you're looking all right." The expression
of indignant protest which his cheerful re-
mark excited showed him his mistake, and
he added, rather lamely: "You do look
kind of thin, though."

"Thin!" Margery snorted. "Why, Wil-
lie Jones, if you were one-half as sick as
I am this minute, why, you — you'd be
dead long ago ! O-oh ! My head, and my
stummick, and my finger, too! But my
finger's not as bad as my head and my
[37]

A LITTLE QUESTION

stummick. Oh, how I wish that Effie
was here I"

"Effie?"

"Yes, Effie. She'd have me well in two
minutes."

"I hope you don't think we'll find Effie
when we get home."

"Why not?"

"Don't you remember what she said
when we started out? Don't you know
she said she was going to her brother's
house because we called her a hired girl?"

For the moment Margery had forgot-
ten, and now, at this sudden reminder,
she was so overcome she had to sit down
for a few moments and rest on the curb-
stone.

"Oh," she groaned, "you don't think
she really meant it, do you, Willie?
What'll I do if she's not there? There's
no one else knows how to make me thr'up
like Effie! She always does it for me.
Why, I'll just die, I know I will, if she's
[38]

IN LADIES' RIGHTS

not there!"

"I'm sorry, Margery, but even if she is
there, I don't think she'll do anything for
you this time. She's pretty mad at both
of us."

"Willie Jones," Margery said, with
sudden determination, "you've got to do
something. You've just got to!"

"What?"

"You've got to apologize to Erne for
calling her a hired girl."

"Well, ain't she a hired girl?" Willie
protested.

It was the same question Margery had
asked herself earlier in the day. Now,
however, she was ready to answer it dif-
ferently.

"No," she said firmly, "she's not a hired
girl. She stays with us because she loves
us and wants to take care of us. Once a
lady sneaked in and tried to get Erne away
from us, and do you know what Erne
did? She chased the lady out of the
[39]

A LITTLE QUESTION

yard! So you see she's our true friend
and just like one of the family, too. Now
you're not friends with a person you call
a hired girl, are you? Effie was just right
not to let us call her that. Why, do you
know, Willie Jones," Margery concluded
impressively, "I love Effie much better
than I do some of my relations !"

This seemed an irrefutable argument to
Margery, but Willie Jones again pro-
tested.

"She's a hired girl even if you do love
her."

"She's not, I say!" roared Margery.
"And, Willie Jones, you stop arguing!
You're making me sicker! Just see how
my head wobbles !" She wobbled it shak-
ily a moment to show, and then demanded
sharply: "Now, then, Willie Jones, is
Effie a hired girl or isn't she?"

Many a man before Willie Jones has
been forced to make a choice between facts
and a lady's increasing illness on the one
[40]

IN LADIES' RIGHTS

hand and fancy and her smiles on the
other. Like most of his kind, Willie Jones
had not the moral courage to face the
lady's increasing illness.

"Well, if you say she's not a hired girl,
I guess she's not. You ought to know."

"And will you apologize to her for your
mistake?"

"Yes, if you want me to."

"Well, I do want you to. So come on.
I'm nearly dead now and I just tell you
I can't stand it much longer."

When they reached the kitchen, they
found Effie with nose a-tilt and eyes sus-
piciously red. At sight of them she burst
into a loud and cheerful strain :

"Wait till the clouds roll by, Nellie,
Wait till the clouds roll by, ..."

"Effie," Margery began. Effie did not
hear, so Margery had to try again.
"Effie!"

[41]

A LITTLE QUESTION

"Oh," remarked Effie, stopping her
song and looking at them, as it were, for
the first time. Then she asked, in her
haughtiest tone: "Is it me yir talkin'
to?"

"Willie Jones wants to say something
to you, Effie."

Margery gave Willie a push and he
began bravely:

"Say, Effie, I'm awfully sorry I called
you that. But it wasn't my fault, honest
it wasn't, because, don't you know, I
thought you were. But Margery says
you're not. She says you're one of the
fambly."

"Did she honest?" cried Effie, eagerly,
her face lighting up.

"Sure she did, Effie. Why, do you
know, Effie, she says she loves you better
than she does any of her real relations!"

When you undertake to do a thing it's
a pleasure to do it properly.

"No!" said Effie, increduously.
[42]

IN LADIES' RIGHTS

"Cross my heart !" vowed Willie Jones,
suiting action to word.

"Oh, you darlint!" Effie cried, opening
her arms to gather in her repentant child.
Then she stopped in concern. "What's
ailin' yir finger?"

"Stung!" Margery quavered. " But
don't mind that, Effie. It don't hurt much
now. It's my stummick! Ugh! Ugh!
I'm just dying to thr'up I Please get the
hot water and things, quick!"

"And are you feelin' sick, you poor
lamb," Effie crooned, compassionately, as
she rushed about making preparations.
"Now, dearie-

"Effie, make Willie Jones go out first."

"Whoop !" shouted Effie, turning upon
Willie with brandished arms.

"Wait, Effie, wait a minute! Tell him
when his mother pays him, he can bring
over my nickel, and if I'm not here he can
give it to you."

"Do you hear that, now?" Effie de-
[43]

A LITTLE QUESTION

manded roughly, pushing Willie out by
the shoulder and closing the door.

"Now, then, darlint, just drink this
down. That's right. Drink it all. Now
swally yir little hand. That's right.
That's right. Oh, now yir goin* a-feel
fine! Now ye'll soon be a well girl. Once
again. That's right. That's right. . . .
It's just a good thing to get rid of all that
nasty old stuff, ain't it, now? ..."

When this part of Margery's illness
was attended to, Effie bathed her finger,
extracted the sting, and in a short time
had her feeling delightfully convalescent.

"And, Effie," Margery began coaxingly
in that moment of sweet intimacy between
nurse and patient when relief has come,
"you're never going to Tom McGinniss's
house to live, are you?"

"Tom McGinniss's house!" snorted Ef-
fie, outraged and indignant at the mere
suggestion. "Well, I should say not!
Who's been puttin' such ideas into your
[44]

IN LADIES' RIGHTS

head? Why, those McGinniss kids, even
if they are me own flesh and blood, are a
set of young ruffians! And Tom's wife!
Whew! Would you believe it, she's try-
in' to break into society! And the things
I know about her! No, siree! Me and
Maggie McGinniss couldn't live twenty-
four hours under the same roof! Don't
you ever insult me again by suggestin*
such a thing! . . . And now, darlint, I
think it will be just as well if we go to
bed and take a little rest."

After she had punched the pillow and
smoothed the sheet and had been assured
several times that the patient was feeling
just lovely, honest she was, Effie lingered
a moment uncertainly.

"And, darlint dear," she began half
shyly, "you ain't never again goin* a-let
any one call your poor old Effie that ugly
name, are you now? It's a turrible thing
to bunch a decent, hardworkin' girl with a
set o' tramps like them neighborhood hired
[45]

A LITTLE QUESTION

girls. I just tell you a girl has to be
mighty careful nowadays what she lets
folks call her. Even if she's a perfect
lady, they're only too quick to take ad-
vantage of her. Especially these here
men and boys."

"You just bet they are!" Margery
agreed heartily. "They're always trying
to get the best of us ! But just let me tell
you one thing: You needn't think I'm
not going to get that nickel, because I
am!"

[46]

PART TWO

THE next day Margery saw noth-
ing of Willie until afternoon.
Then she caught him just as he
was leaving his own gate. Apparently
he did not see her, and she had to gain
his attention by calling him.

"Willie, wait a minute. I want to ask
you something."

Willie seemed to be in a great hurry.
Nevertheless, he paused.

"Well?"

"Did your mother pay you that dime
yesterday?"

"What dime?"

"That dime for those two quarts of ber-
ries that you and me picked together."

"O-ohl"

"Well, did she?"

"Did she? Of course she did!"
[47]

A LITTLE QUESTION

"Well, have you got my nickel?"

Willie looked at her scornfully.

"Of course I've got your nickel! Do
you suppose I eat 'em?"

Margery was very sure that that was
exactly what he would like to do with
both their nickels — transmuted, that is to
say, into eatable commodities. But she
didn't care to lose time on verbal quibbles.
She came to the point at once :

"Will you please give me my nickel
now? I want it."

Willie squirmed impatiently.

"How can I give you your old nickel
before I get the dime changed? I don't
see what you're in such a rush for! Be-
sides, I'm in a hurry. I got to see a
fella."

Margery held out her hand.

"Give me 'the dime and Effie will
change it for us. It won't take two min-
utes."

"Effie nuthin'! What do you think I
[48]

IN LADIES' RIGHTS

am? I tell you, you got to wait! I'm in
a hurry."

"And I tell you, Willie Jones, I'm not
going to wait any longer ! I've been wait-
ing ever since yesterday afternoon, and
now I've got you I'm going to stay right
with you until you pay me !"

With a grunt of disgust Willie turned
and ran. As the weakness of sex and the
helplessness of young ladyhood had not
yet had time to settle down upon her,
Margery promptly ran after him. She
was as good a runner as he was any day,
so he was mightily mistaken if he thought
he was going to get away by running.
After a few moments he seemed to real-
ize this, for he drew up, panting, and, with
a change of tactics, turned a smiling face
to Margery.

"Do you want to spend your nickel,
Margery?"

Did she want to spend her nickel?
What a question! Did he suppose she
[49]

A LITTLE QUESTION

wanted to punch a hole in it and hang it
around her neck?

"Of course I want to spend my nickel!
And I want to spend it myself, too. I
don't want no one else to spend it for

me."

Willie lounged up to the window of a
bakery shop.

"Jimmy, those cakes do look good!"
He turned to her blandly. "Say, Mar-
gery, do you want me to buy some cakes?"

"No, I don't want you to buy some
cakes! All I want is my nickel."

Willie sighed, and went back to the
cakes. The longer he looked the hun-
grier he became. He sighed again.

"I just guess I'll have to buy some
cakes — that's all there is about it. You
can wait out here for me, Margery."

But Margery did not care to wait for
him outside. Bakery shops sometimes
have back doors that let out on little al-
leys. So Margery said:
[50]

IN LADIES' RIGHTS

"I think I'll just go in with you, Wil-
lie."

Willie knew the cakes he wanted, but,
being a wary trader, he priced other kinds
first.

"Them's two for a nickel," the German
lady behind the counter told him, "and
them's a cent apiece — ten cents a dozen.
Oh, them's real expensive — five cents
apiece."

Finally he pointed to the objects of his
choice. They were long1, thick, yteflow
cakes, fancifully encrusted with chocolate.

"Three for a nickel," the German lady
said.

Willie sighed so hopelessly that the
German lady relented.

"By rights, they're three for a nickel,
but I tell you what I'll do : I'll make 'em
to you a cent apiece. But you mustn't
tell no one."

Willie promised he wouldn't, and
bought two. In payment he offered the
[51]

A LITTLE QUESTION

German lady a dime. Margery looked
significantly at the change as the Ger-
man lady counted it out ; but Willie quite
mechanically slipped it all into his pocket.

The German lady beamed on them
kindly.

"Say, yous two can sit down at one
of them little tables, if yous want to, and
eat your cakes. By rights, only ten-cent
orders can sit down, but I'll let yous this
time."

"Thank you," Willie Jones said po-
litely. "That'll be much nicer."

So they sat them down at an ice-cream
table, and Willie at once proffered Mar-
gery his open bag.

"Don't you want a cake?"

In one sense Margery did want a cake,
but under the circumstances she deemed
it wise not to humor her appetite. So she
said:

"No, thanks; I'm not hungry."

Willie gallantly urged, but Margery
[52]

IN LADIES' RIGHTS

was firm, and at length he was forced to
begin alone.

He ate with zest. Gazing at him, Mar-
gery had time to ask herself what in the
world was possessing him to act so. If
that nickel were owing to Henry, or to
Freddy Larkin, or, in fact, to any boy,
Margery knew with no possibility of
doubt that Willie Jones would pay up at
once. Among his own kind, he passed
for a fellow that was honest and square,
but for some reason, some utterly illogical
but nevertheless generally accepted rea-
son, just because she was a female crea-
ture, in dealing with her he felt at liberty
to cast aside that code of conduct by which
ordinarily he acted. And — if the outrage
needed a climax — the rest of mankind,
should they hear of Willie Jones's be-
havior, instead of turning from him with
the cold shoulder of disapproval, would
merely laugh amusedly. Oh, think of it!
The injustice of things! The rank, the
[53]

A LITTLE QUESTION

black injustice! Margery turned wild
eyes to heaven to register her dumb but
not for that reason any less vehement pro-
test.

Willie, meantime, munched calmly on.
As the moments passed, he ate more
slowly. Naturally. The cakes he had so
carefully selected were not hollow inside,
but as solid as they looked, and conse-
quently somewhat dry and crumbly. Dry-
ness and crumbliness induce thirst, and
thirst, as every one knows, is one of the
first things to eat up a man's wealth.
Willie Jones swallowed hard, and in-
quired :

"Would you like a glass of milk, Mar-
gery?"

"Would I like a glass of milk!" Mar-
gery's tone seemed to add: On my own
money, I suppose you mean! Aloud she
concluded: "I should say not! I can get
milk at home."

Willie got up and went over to the
[54]

IN LADIES' RIGHTS

counter.

"How much is your milk a glass?"

"Three cents," the German lady said.

Willie sighed, and turned sadly away.
The German lady called him back.

"By rights it's three cents, but I'll give
it to you for two."

Margery heard distinctly. Two cents
for cakes, two cents for milk. Good!
That left him one cent of his own money.

Willie Jones leisurely finished the last
crumb of cake and drained his glass.

"Well, so long, Margery. I guess I
better be going. I got to see a fella down
in East Maplewood."

"Give me my nickel, Willie, or I'll have
to go with you. I told you I would."

"Well, of course, Margery, you can
come down to East Maplewood if you
want to. But it's pretty far." He spoke
as though the possible fatigue to Mar-
gery really concerned him.

Margery straightened her lips, and fell
[55]

A LITTLE QUESTION

into step. She told herself that she was
getting mad. The state of her feelings,
however, seemed to have no effect upon
her companion. He continued exasperat-
ingly bland and friendly. At street cross-
ings he warned her of the danger of ap-
proaching vehicles; he begged her to step
this way or that in order not to muddy
her shoes; and along the flower beds of
Boulevard Place he insisted upon her tell-
ing him which she preferred, red gera-
niums or pink, and why.

As they came into East Maplewood his
manner changed. A frown settled be-
tween his eyes, and he drew a long breath
of rising indignation. He was deciding
evidently that patience and forbearance
had reached their limit. Stopping short
in front of a little candy store, he turned
upon Margery with a sudden grim threat
in voice and eye.

"Now, then, Margery, I've stood this
foolin' long enough! Beat it!"
[56]

IN LADIES' RIGHTS

But Margery gave him back look for
look, and, instead of shrinking away at
sight of his determined glance, answered
emphatic scowl with scowl just as em-
phatic.

" You've stood this fooling long enough,
have you, Willie Jones ? And what about
me? There's just one thing I want to
tell you : You'll never get rid of me until
you give me my nickel I"

"Aw, go on "

Willie Jones broke off as two little girls
who were passing stopped to look inquir-
ingly, not to say inquisitively, from him
to Margery. They were both a few years
older than Margery, poor children evi-
dently, for one of them carried a parcel
of afternoon papers that she seemed to
be delivering. It was the other one who,
after a moment's pause, addressed Mar-
gery:

"What's the matter, little girl? Has
he got a nickel of yours?"
[57]

A LITTLE QUESTION

Margery hesitated. Her struggle with
Willie Jones was so much like a family
quarrel that she was loath to call in out-
side interference. Truth to tell, if Willie
Jones had been her own brother Henry,
she would have died rather than disclose
to the world the disgraceful cause of their
wrangle. But Willie Jones wasn't Henry,
and, besides that, Henry, though he was
a boy, would never act this way about a
nickel that was really hers. This thought
decided her. She would give Willie Jones
one more chance, and then, if he still per-
sisted in ignoring the justice of her claim,
she would force the situation by inviting
the assistance of these friendly strangers.

Her words, though directed only to
Willie, told the listening world all that it
need know.

"I don't know what's the matter with
you, Willie. I don't see why you're act-
ing so mean. You know very well that
nickel in your pocket, on the right-hand
[58]

IN LADIES' RIGHTS

side, is mine. Now, I ask you for the last
time: Please give it to me."

Margery held out her hand, but Willie,
excited, perhaps, by the presence of the
newcomers, seemed to lose all sense of
the fitness of things, for he dashed Mar-
gery's hand rudely aside, and shouted
angrily:

"Aw, go on! What do you think I
am? I'll give you that nickel when I'm
good and ready, and not before!"

"O-oh!" the newcomers chorused, in
horror, and the young lady who had al-
ready spoken to Margery exclaimed to
the lady of the papers :

"Oh, Rosie, ain't he just awful?"

Then she turned to Margery.

"You poor thing! What's your name?"

Margery told her.

"Margery, did you say? Well, Mar-
gery, let me introduce you to my friend,
Rosie O'Brien. Rosie, this is my friend,
Margery."

[59]'

A LITTLE QUESTION

"Glad to know you," Rosie said, put-
ting out the hand that was unencumbered
with papers. "And her name," Rosie con-
tinued, indicating the introductress of the
moment before, "is Janet McFadden.
Janet, won't you shake hands with my
friend, Margery?"

Janet would, and did so most cordially.
Then, pointing with her thumb over her
shoulder, not deigning to waste even a
glance on Willie Jones, she inquired
haughtily :

"And what does he answer to?"

Margery told her.

"Huh! Well, we'll Willie- Jones him,
all right, before we're through with him!"

Now, it has been said that for every
great cause a leader springs up. This,
no doubt, is also true of lesser causes. At
any rate, the businesslike manner in which
Miss Janet McFadden proceeded at once
to roll up her sleeves was enough to con-
vince one that the cause of Margery's
[60]

IN LADIES' RIGHTS

nickel had called forth its champion — a
champion, be it added, not only willing
but able.

"Lay down your papers, Rosie," was
Janet's first command, "and put a stone
on them so's they won't blow away.
That's right. Now I guess we're ready."

Willie Jones was regarding them all
with dark looks, tinged, perhaps, with just
a shade of concern.

"Say there, you better look out what
you think you're doing! If you're not
careful some of you'll get hurt!"

Janet McFadden answered this warn-
ing with an order to her own forces :

"Now, girls, don't hurt him any more
than you can help!"

Willie Jones spluttered with rage, and
while he was spluttering Janet murmured
tersely :

"Now's our time! When I count three,
we'll go for him. I'll go for his arms;
Rosie, you grab his legs and feet; and
[61]

A LITTLE QUESTION

Margery can make for his pocket. Now I
One — two — three !"

Willie Jones put up a gallant fight, but
what, pray, are two stout arms against
six just as stout? What, say, avails two
strong legs that are pressed, hugged,
jammed together by a human snake who
has twisted herself about them, and is sit-
ting on their helpless feet?

The violence of the contest was over in
a moment, and Janet was urging:

"Quick, Margery, quick! His pocket!"

But when you're not trained to the busi-
ness, it's fearfully hard to slip your hand
deftly into some one else's pocket. Mar-
gery bungled, and Janet, impatient at
her slowness, loosened slightly her own
hold. On the instant, Willie Jones
wrenched one arm free, dived into his
pocket, and before his captors knew what
he was about had pulled up the nickel and
popped it into his mouth.

"You villain!" cried Janet McFadden,
[62]

I1ST LADIES' RIGHTS

unspeakably incensed at this fresh out-
rage. "You spit that nickel right out!
Do you hear me?"

Willie Jones made no answer. His
mouth was too tightly shut to answer.

Janet would have shaken him soundly,
but Margery stopped her.

"Be careful, Janet, be careful! If he
was to swallow it I never would get it
back!"

Willie Jones's face lit up, and he
nodded his head vigorously.

For a moment Janet McFadden was
silent, then she laughed.

"All right; let him swallow it if he
wants to ! But if he does he'll turn green
as grass and die of blood poison, won't he,
Rosie?"

"You bet he will!" Miss O'Brien called
up from below. "By this time to-morrow
he'll be dead! Then the patrol wagon'll
come for him, and they'll carry him off
to the morgue like that Dago that
[63]

A LITTLE QUESTION

dropped dead on our street. You remem-
ber about him, don't you, Janet?"

"Sure I do. He had earrings in his

ears."

The earrings seemed to be too much
for Willie Jones. The look of triumph
slowly faded from his face.

"Go ahead, swallow it!" Janet McFad-
den gently urged. She waited a moment,
then declared emphatically: "Well, if
he won't swallow it he's got to spit it
out; that's all there is about it I Here,
Rosie, we're going to lay him down on his
stummick, so you lift his legs up. He
can't do a thing — I've got his arms."

Willie Jones struggled, apparently on
principle, not surely with any conviction
that his struggling would avail him. In
a moment Janet had him down and placed
to her liking. A crowd was gathering,
so there was no time to lose.

"Now, then, Margery," Janet com-
manded, "quick I Grab his nose and hold
[64]

IN LADIES' RIGHTS

it shut real tight ! That'll make his mouth
open if anything will."

This time Margery did her part with-
out bungling, and in spite of the look of
reproach that Willie gave her. His time
was come. He held in as long as the
human engine can, then exploded. The
force of the explosion blew the nickel out
of his mouth, and, lo, all Margery had to
do was pick it up.

Thus the struggle ended.

Janet and the faithful Rosie, releasing
their captive, jumped nimbly aside, and,
amid the jeers of the onlookers, Willie
Jones got slowly to his feet.

"Aw, shucks! You call that fair —
three against one?"

Janet answered at once:

"I call anything fair when there's more
on the girl's side!"

Turning her back on Willie Jones,
Janet put an affectionate arm about Ma-
gery's shoulder.

[65]

A LITTLE QUESTION

"Are you going to spend your nickel,
Margery?"

Margery thought she was.

"Candy?"

"Yes, I thought I'd get some candy.
Do you and Rosie like jaw-breakers?"

Janet and Rosie both adored jaw-
breakers.

"Is this a good place?" Margery asked,
pointing to the little candy store near
which they were standing.

Janet was horrified.

"I should say not! The jaw-breakers
here are the weeniest little things I No.
A little ways up the street there's another
candy store that has jaw-breakers as big
as eggs ! They last at least an hour, don't
they, Rosie? Come on, and I'll show
you."

To their surprise, Willie Jones accom-
panied them. In spite of all that had oc-
curred, he seemed still to consider himself
an honored member of the group. Rosie
[66]

IN LADIES' RIGHTS

O'Brien stared at him incredulously, and
Janet McFadden, casting long-suffering
eyes to the telegraph wires overhead,
snorted out:

"Huh! The cheek of some people,
coming along with you whether you ask
them or not !"

The jaw-breakers at the second store
were nearly as large as Janet had re-
ported them. The mere sight of them
made your mouth ache in delicious dis-
comfort. To hold six of them Margery
had to make a little basket of both hands.
This basket she carefully carried outside,
where she paused, ready to pass it around.
To Janet's indignation, Willie Jones
pressed forward as confident as any one,
and Margery did not repulse him. In
fact, in her own mind, Margery had al-
ready decided that she could afford to be
magnanimous. So, to show how far she
could rise above petty resentment, she
was about to offer the jaw-breakers to
[67]

A LITTLE QUESTION

Willie first of all, when suddenly his face
took on an expression of overwhelming
horror, and, pointing a startled finger
over Margery's shoulder, he cried out:

"Oh, look I"

Every one, of course, looked, and while
they were looking Willie Jones swooped
down upon the unprotected jaw-breakers,
grabbed as many as he could, and fled.
While the others were still gazing stu-
pidly at each other he disappeared around
a corner.

Rosie O'Brien was the first to recover
speech enough to gasp out:

"Well, what do you know about that?"

Janet McFadden, groaning in helpless
rage, worked her arms up and down,
clenched and unclenched her hands, and
breathed hard.

"O-oh ! Do you know — do you know —
sometimes I get so mad that I'd just like
to wring the neck of every boy in the
world!"

[68]

IN LADIES' RIGHTS

Margery alone had nothing to say. She
stooped to pick up the only two jaw-
breakers that were left. These were on
the pavement, for, in snatching, Willie
had knocked them out of her hands.

"I — I don't believe I want any jaw-
breakers to-day." Margery spoke with a
slight quaver. "You — you two can have
them."

She offered one to Rosie, but Rosie, in-
stead of taking it, threw her arms impul-
sively about Margery's neck.

"You poor thing! That'd be nice, now,
wouldn't it? And you not have even one
of your own jaw-breakers! No! I just
tell you what we'll do: You'll have one
whole one for yourself, and me and
Janet '11 divide the other. I'll suck it for
a block, and then Janet can suck it for a
block."

This was the arrangement finally
agreed upon.

"And wouldn't you like to come with
[69]

A LITTLE QUESTION

us, Margery, while I finish up my paper
route?"

Yes, Margery would just as soon do
that as anything else.

Rosie petted and comforted her as best
she could, teaching her how to wrap a
paper that is to be thrown on a porch,
explaining to her the scale of profits in
the newspaper business, and giving her
interesting bits of family history about the
various houses where they stopped.

Had she been alone with Rosie, Mar-
gery would have been allowed to forget
somewhat her recent troubles. In fact,
she almost did forget them once or twice
at moments when Janet McFadden was
busy sucking the jaw-breaker. But the
instant it became Rosie's turn to suck,
Janet was back again on the old subject.

"Ha, ha! Don't you think I know

'em?" The fem of Janet's acquaintance

were, of course, Willie Jones and his kind.

"Oh, I tell you, I know 'em just as well!

[70]

IN LADIES' RIGHTS

They're all the same, every last one of
them, always getting the best of us, and
then going off by themselves and having
a good time ! I tell you, if I had my way,
things'd be different! Oh, I tell you, if
we'd all just get together and treat 'em
like they ought to be treated, it — it — it —
it'd be just good for 'em — it would!"

Of course, everything Janet said was
gospel truth, and there was no gainsay-
ing it; but even truth is sometimes de-
pressing, and not the thing one wishes
forever to have dinned into one's ears.

"And I know just as well as I know my
own name, Margery, that now, after he's
acted this way, he'll be coming back try-
ing to make friends with you. You
needn't tell me I I know him ! But listen
here, Margery, don't have a thing to do
with him ! Don't ever speak to him again,
and pretend you don't even see him. He's
not worth it — honestly he's not!"

When Margery parted from them later
[71]

A LITTLE QUESTION

in the afternoon Janet made her solemnly
promise that henceforward she would con-
sider Willie Jones as dirt beneath her
feet. It was neither the time nor the place
for Margery to ask herself whether she
really wished to make such a promise, for,
in the presence of so fiery an apostle of
female rights, her private inclinations sim-
ply shriveled to fine ashes and blew away.

"Of course," murmured Margery meek-
ly, "of course I'll never speak to him
again."

"That's right!" Janet declared. "He
don't deserve it."

"And say, Margery," Rosie O'Brien
begged, in parting, "come down to East
Maplewood again some afternoon, won't
you? I start on my paper route at half
past three — you know where. I'd love
to have you come again."

"I'll come if I can, Rosie — honest, I
will. Both of you have been just as nice
to me! Good-by."

[72]

IN LADIES' RIGHTS

Margery trudged homeward, feeling
tired and a little down-hearted. Janet
McFadden was entirely right: Willie
Jones was a villain and a rogue. But,
even so, wasn't it rather a pity to end
things forever, after all the good times
they had once had together? Dear, dear!
In a maleless world, justice to ladies
would no doubt prevail; but, alas, alas,
in such a world the ladies who enjoy male
society would probably feel a bit lone-
some.

"Say, Margery, hold on a minute!"

The voice was unmistakable, but Mar-
gery did not turn her head.

"Say, Margery, I'm awfully sorry —
honest, I am. I was only fooling."

There he was, just as Janet said he
would be. Janet knew. So far as Mar-
gery herself was concerned, she would just
as soon make friends, but she had promised
Janet, and she must keep her word.
Heigho !

[T3]

A LITTLE QUESTION

"And lookee here, Margery, here are
all your jaw-breakers. I ain't et one —
honest, I ain't."

Margery looked, and, lo, in his hand
lay four jaw-breakers, three of them as
black and shiny as the moment they had
left the little candy store, the fourth
sucked down only to the pink.

"I couldn't help tasting one of them,
Margery, but I only sucked it a few
minutes — honest, I did. And here,"
Willie Jones continued, offering her a
little bag, "is a cake I bought for you
with my last cent."

"Oh, Willie, did you really?"

"You just got to take it, Margery. I
want you to. I'm awful sorry I was so
mean to you, but, don't you know, when
that old Janet McFadden butted in, I
just couldn't help it. I always did hate
a girl like her! But I was going to give
you your nickel, all right. I meant to all
along. Of course I did! Wasn't it your
[74]

IN LADIES' RIGHTS

nickel?"

"Oh, Willie, and did you really buy
that cake for me with your own cent, and
you didn't eat up all my jaw-breakers?"

"Of course you know I was just fool-
ing about that nickel, don't you, Mar-
gery?"

There is no telling what Margery
really knew down deep in her heart, and
it didn't in the least matter. All that
mattered now was this : Here was Willie
Jones, genuinely ashamed of what he had
done, and man enough to say so. Mar-
gery forgave him instantly.

"But, Willie, I just won't eat a bite of
that cake unless you take half, Here, let
me break it in two."

After they had eaten the cake, she in-
sisted likewise upon sharing the recovered
jaw-breakers.

"And I'm going to take the one you've
partly sucked for one of mine, because I've
had a whole one already, and you haven't
[75]

A LITTLE QUESTION

had any."

Willie Jones protested, but this time
Margery had her way, and in a few mo-
ments, after the friendliest of partings,
he was started home with a fresh jaw-
breaker in his cheek and another in his
pocket.

Of course, without a thought, Margery
had broken her promise to Janet. Well,
what if she had? Margery gave her shoul-
ders an impatient little shrug. Who,
pray, was Janet McFadden that she
should come between friends? To be sure,
in her way, Janet was a good, kind crea-
ture, and she meant well, but wasn't she
a trifle excitable and a little too emphatic,
don't you think? On the whole, too, her
outlook on life seemed rather limited.
There were certain things you never could
expect her to understand. Come to think
of it, she didn't look like a girl who re-
ceived many valentines. It might be just
as well if Margery never saw her again,
[76]

IN LADIES' RIGHTS

for explanations would be difficult.

Not so, though, with Rosie O'Brien!
If Margery ever met Rosie alone, she
could explain to Rosie, and Rosie, she
felt sure, would understand at once. Rosie
had bright blues eyes and pretty hair that
blew about her face in soft, alluring ring-
lets. Rosie without a doubt would under-
stand.

Poor Janet McFadden! Margery
really felt sorry for Janet as she thought
of her going through life weighted down
with such a grievance. Of course, it was
awfully good of her, the way she had
espoused Margery's cause. Poor thing,
she was probably still fuming over Mar-
gery's wrongs at this very moment, when
Margery herself, sucking hard at Willie
Jones's half-finished jaw-breaker, which
she was in hopes of concluding before din-
ner, was feeling anything but injured and
down-trodden. Perhaps, though, it was
the poor thing's pleasure to keep herself
[77]

A LITTLE QUESTION

always stirred up.

For some reason Margery was not hun-
gry for dinner, but she forced herself to
eat enough to avert paternal questioning.
The last jaw-breaker she was saving for
bed. She could take half an hour's sweet
comfort from it before going to sleep, and
still have something to look forward to
upon awakening next morning.

While she waited after dinner until she
could, in decency, retire, she sat a while
within the family circle, quietly musing
upon the day's adventures. What a
strange, delightful, interesting sort of a
place the world was, to be sure, with all
its fiery Janet McFaddens, and sweet
Rosie O'Briens, and paradoxical Willie
Joneses! My but she was glad that she
was alive!

And she really was sorry for Janet. If
she could only make her see

"Well, after all, Margery, what do you
think about it?"

[78]!

IN LADIES' RIGHTS

Her father was looking at her with a
quizzical expression, but his question
chimed in so well with her own thoughts
that before she realized what she was say-
ing, Margery answered:

"I don't care if they do act mean some-
times— I like 'eml"

THE END

[79]

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